Time-Loop Movies That Aren't Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is banned from this list, which means it will now be mentioned in every single entry anyway.

Entries
12
Category
Film
Updated
  1. A fluorescent-lit laboratory corridor with a wall clock reading one minute past midnight, sparks arcing from a control panel.

    12. 12:01

    Jack Sholder · 1993

    A Fox TV movie with Jonathan Silverman reliving one day to save Helen Slater, aired in the same year as You Know What. Its creators said they got there first. History said, sure, sorry, anyway.

  2. A car's headlights on a dark, snowy wooded road, a single red rose resting on the empty passenger seat.

    11. Before I Fall

    Ry Russo-Young · 2017

    Zoey Deutch plays a popular high schooler reliving one February Friday, and the film is braver than its YA packaging suggests. The loop works less as a puzzle and more as an uncomfortable mirror.

  3. A hand-drawn town map pinned to a bedroom wall, covered in tiny circled stars and timestamps, a bicycle leaning nearby.

    10. The Map of Tiny Perfect Things

    Ian Samuels · 2021

    Two teens stuck in the same day start cataloguing its small perfect moments instead of fixing it. Lev Grossman adapted his own short story, and it's the gentlest film on the list, which counts as a twist for the genre.

  4. A rope stretching up from a forest clearing into a hazy sky, a circle of old tents and a camp lantern below it.

    09. The Endless

    Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead · 2017

    Two brothers go back to the cult they escaped as kids, and the camp is stranger than they remember. Directed by the two guys who also star, and it gets under your skin anyway.

  5. A bullet-riddled bedroom wall at dawn, a machete stuck in the headboard, a coffee mug still steaming on the nightstand.

    08. Boss Level

    Joe Carnahan · 2021

    Frank Grillo wakes up to an assassin every morning and responds with the weary efficiency of a man doing his commute. It's a video game with the HUD switched off, and it knows it, and it's very fun about it.

  6. Snow falling on a narrow river behind a wooden Japanese inn, a lone apron draped over a railing by the water.

    07. River

    Junta Yamaguchi · 2023

    A Kyoto inn where everyone resets every two minutes, shot in long unbroken takes so the loops happen in real time. Tiny, warm and a little bit of a magic trick. Snow is involved, and it's lovely.

  7. A cluttered office desk at night, a wall calendar where every square says the same day.

    06. Mondays: See You 'This' Week!

    Ryo Takebayashi · 2022

    An ad agency stuck in the same week, where the hard part isn't breaking the loop, it's getting coworkers to sign off on breaking it. The most accurate film ever made about meetings.

  8. A small sailing yacht capsized on a flat sea beside the towering silhouette of an empty ocean liner.

    05. Triangle

    Christopher Smith · 2009

    Melissa George, a yacht, a storm and an empty ocean liner. Go in knowing as little as possible. This is the loop movie as dread machine, and the one people recommend in a hushed voice, like it might hear them.

  9. A single birthday cupcake with one lit candle on a dorm-room desk, a cracked baby-doll mask lying beside it.

    04. Happy Death Day

    Christopher Landon · 2017

    A slasher where the final girl gets unlimited retries. Jessica Rothe plays the birthday victim with such snippy, self-aware fury that you root for her and the concept at the same time. The baby-mask killer is a gift.

  10. An empty commuter train car with a single paper coffee cup on a seat, a digital clock overhead counting down eight minutes.

    03. Source Code

    Duncan Jones · 2011

    Jake Gyllenhaal gets eight minutes on a Chicago commuter train to find a bomber, then gets the same eight minutes again. The tightest loop on the list, and the only one where you'd also like to know what's in the vending cart.

  11. A pink pool float drifting alone in a desert swimming pool at golden hour, a wedding arch with dropped champagne glasses beside it.

    02. Palm Springs

    Max Barbakow · 2020

    Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti stuck at a desert wedding, treating eternity like a pool day with no hangover. It sold at Sundance for $17,500,000.69, beating the record by 69 cents, which is also the movie's sense of humor.

  12. A dented exoskeleton suit lying on a rain-soaked beach under a smoky sky, with a row of identical suits stretching to the horizon.

    01. Edge of Tomorrow

    Doug Liman · 2014

    Tom Cruise, the most invincible man in movies, dies over and over, often in comically abrupt fashion, while Emily Blunt drills him into shape. A loop film built like a video game, a war movie and a very sharp comedy all at once.

Honorable mentions

  • An object that evokes Happy Death Day 2U.

    Happy Death Day 2U

    Christopher Landon · 2019

    The sequel turns slasher into sci-fi farce and somehow gets away with it. Best watched back-to-back with the first one, like the loop intended.

  • An object that evokes Run Lola Run.

    Run Lola Run

    Tom Tykwer · 1998

    Three runs at the same twenty minutes. Technically more do-over than loop, but nobody who has seen that red hair moving at full speed is going to argue.

Dishonorable mentions

  • An object that evokes Naked.

    Naked

    Michael Tiddes · 2017

    Marlon Wayans relives the hour before his wedding without clothes. A remake of a Swedish comedy that was already riffing on You Know What, so it's a copy of a copy, nude.

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